Catch up TV
Byrne About Byrne
In this diverse and inventive autobiography, painter and author John Byrne travels from his youth, through his art school years to the period of his stage and TV plays, and on to his death, sometime in the future.\nWith him is Robbie Coltrane as himself and as a shamus invented by Byrne, who discovers there are as many aspects to the author as there are actors playing him.
Source: BBC 4
Most recent episodes of Arena
Arena
Kurosawa
Sam Shepard narrates a documentary profile of celebrated Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa, responsible for the films Seven Samurai, Ikiru and Rashomon.
14-11-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Everything Is Connected - George Eliot's Life
Contemporary artist Gillian Wearing celebrates the legacy of Victorian novelist George Eliot.\n\nJust as Eliot’s novel Middlemarch explored the lives of ordinary men and w ...
30-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Kusama: Infinity
Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama’s work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with ...
21-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Buddy Holly
Documentary looking at the short but brilliant career of legendary rock'n'roll star Buddy Holly. Features interviews with contemporaries and fans including backing band The Cric ...
11-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Peggy Sue: Tales Of Rock And Roll
Peggy Sue Gerron Rackham, the inspiration behind Buddy Holly's famous song, is taken back by Arena to Lubbock, Texas, where she went to the same high school as Holly and where h ...
11-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Dylan Thomas: From Grave To Cradle
Author and broadcaster Nigel Williams examines the work and the legend of one of the most famous poets of the 20th century, Dylan Thomas.\n\nBorn in 1914, Dylan Thomas was an un ...
06-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Rudies Come Back: The Rise And Rise Of 2 Tone
In this Arena film from 1980, Adrian Thrills investigates 2 Tone, an exhilarating new musical blend that was taking the country by storm.\n\nOriginating in Coventry in 1979, 2 T ...
28-08-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Art And Design: The Journey
Singer and writer George Melly takes a walk from his home in north London to the Hayward Gallery, reminiscing along the way about the influence of surrealism on his early life.
17-08-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Harold Pinter - Part 2: Celebration
In part two of this film biography, Arena explores the relationship between the public and private dimensions of the famous playwright and actor's life and work; the intimacy of ...
09-08-2026
BBC 4
Most popular episodes of Arena
Arena
Kusama: Infinity
Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama’s work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from her peers and those in power in the art world. Kusama was an underdog with ...
21-09-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Tony Bennett’s New York
Once dubbed the 'king of cool', a look at the man behind the silky voice as Tony Bennett - civil rights activist, jazz enthusiast, painter and New Yorker - takes a tour around h ...
07-08-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Sonny Rollins '74: Rescued!
Featuring a specially shot introduction with Jamie Cullum, Arena presents a lost treasure - Sonny Rollins performing at Ronnie Scott's in 1974. After nearly 40 years unseen, thi ...
29-05-2026
BBC 4
Arena
Cigars - Out Of The Humidor
Documentary which follows the story of the cigar - from the tobacco fields west of the Cuban capital of Havana into the factories where poetry and daily newspapers are read alou ...
22-04-2018
BBC 4
Arena
Peter Shaffer
Writer Peter Shaffer talks about his plays, his life and the theatre. \n\n'I think the live experience in the theatre is very important when you can see shocks and murmurs going ...
05-12-2023
BBC 4
Arena
The National Theatre - Learning Zone
Made especially for schools, this version of the BBC Four Arena programme examines the history and purpose of the National Theatre as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
17-06-2014
BBC 4
Arena
James Joyce’s Ulysses
One hundred years after its publication, this film reveals the tawdry, shocking, poetic, uplifting and gloriously kaleidoscopic humanity of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulys ...
07-09-2022
BBC 4
Arena
Painted With My Hair
Painted with My Hair is inspired by the paintings, poetry and letters of Donny Johnson, an exceptionally intelligent and talented US lifer, who has been locked away inside his c ...
31-10-2021
BBC 4
Arena
Stanley And His Daughters
'Children of geniuses tend to have a rather hard time of it. If you're a genius you have to be a bit tough', says Unity Spencer, daughter of Stanley Spencer, one of the most imp ...
04-08-2019
BBC 4